Stansted protest as court battle opens

Protesters were demonstrating outside the High Court today as an unprecedented legal challenge to expansion plans for Stansted airport got under way.

Proposals for a second runway at the Essex airport - and other schemes to expand passenger capacity at Heathrow and Luton - could be halted or radically rethought if the action is successful. It is the first time a judicial review has been held into a government White Paper.

The challenge has been mounted by a coalition which includes the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign and groups representing Heathrow and Luton, along with Hillingdon and Wandsworth councils. A coachload of anti-Stansted campaigners was leaving the village of Takeley this morning bound for the High Court, to wave yellow placards and banners bearing the "Say No To Stansted Expansion" message.

Brian Ross, economics adviser to the campaigners, said the Government failed to consult properly on plans for a second runway at

Stansted. "The High Court took the view the Government had a case to answer, and that is why we are in court," Mr Ross said. "Anybody who has studied the process clearly will see the Government has bulldozed its way through."

A new runway at Stansted, which could be built by 2012, would bring the airport to within half a mile of Takeley.

The village has 1,300 homes and 760 fall under a scheme which could compensate home owners for increased noise and environmental pollution. But the rest will get nothing, which campaigners fear will split the community.

In a separate action, Takeley parish council is taking Transport Secretary Alistair Darling to court to force a more generous settlement, claiming human rights are being breached.

That move could benefit homes in 10 nearby villages where, campaigners claim, homes have lost an average ?100,000 in value.

A BAA spokeswoman said: "We are confident that a second runway will be built and we are confident that there is a need for a second runway."

The spokeswoman acknowledged some homeowners would need to be compensated and added: "We want to deliver compensation and deliver it responsibly."